Sermon Tone Analysis

The Importance of the Resurrection

1 Cor.

15:12-19

I.                     Intro

a.        Every Easter you can expect to read scores of news Magazines on the Issue of religion

*/                                                               i.

/*Newsweek- */“Is God Real?”/*

“Later when Blaise Pascal tried to get it all down on paper, he wrote in bursts, capturing flashes of what he thought he had seen in a vision- a vision that, by empirical standards, could only be fantastical.

There was no doubt in Pascal’s mind, though, that it happened, and happened in time and space, in a way his mathematically trained brain conceived of things as happening.

Pascal remembered the exact time- between the hours of half past 10 and half past midnight on Monday, Nov. 23, 1654, the feast day in the Christian calendar.

Jesus appeared to him, God was real, the Christian story true, “Certainty, certainty, heartfelt joy, peace.

God of Jesus Christ.

My God and your God.”

In a collection of writings found after his death, published as /Pensees/, Pascal blended his two passions, mathematics and faith, to lay out what has come to be known as */Pascal’s Wager/*.

It is simple: */it is smarter to bet that God exists, and to believe in Him, because if it turns out that He is real, you win everything; if He is not, you lose nothing.

So why take the leap of faith?/*

*/                                                             ii.

/*This is the logic of rationalism, the post modern thinking that pervades our society today

*/                                                            iii.

/*We can even outthink ourselves and God to get everything

*/1.

/*We have come to salvation as like a calculated poker player, playing the odds

*/a.

/*The reality of one’s faith is not placed upon odds, nor on personal encounters with God

*/b.

/*They come through His Word- Paul stated, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of salvation.”

*/b.

/*Man cannot come to terms with God in humility and repentance of one’s sins so he has to think up of a new game and make up his own rules

*/                                                               i.

/*It is tragic what consequences one come to without God

*/c.

/**/Bertrand Russell/*- British philosopher and mathematician, millions look to him as the prophet of creative and rational life

*/                                                               i.

/**/A Free Man’s Worship/*  “All the labor of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system… the whole temple of man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.

Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on */the firm foundation of unyielding despair/* can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built.”

*/d.

/**/Will Durant- /*American philosopher and historian, authored the History of Philosophy

*/                                                               i.

/**/“/*Life has become, in that total perspective which is philosophy, a fitful pollution of human insects on the earth, */a planetary eczema/* that may soon be cured; nothing is certain in it but */defeat and death/*.”

1.       Now contrast to these words,

*/a.

/*"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

– John 5:24-25

*/2.

/*How can we trust Him?

How can we trust the word of God to be true?

What causes us to place all our eggs into this basket called Christianity?

*/3.

/*Simply, it is the Resurrection

*/a.

/*Why is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ essential to the Christina faith

Reading the Passage

Opening Prayer

*II.

**Theological Importance, 12-15*

a.

If one is familiar with 1 Corinthians, it is a church commentary by Paul, explaining many issues such as splits and divisions in the church, how to deal with sexual immorality in the church, marriage issues, Christian liberty, spiritual gifts, the true meaning of love, church ecclessiology and of course theology

                                                               i.

Often you will read harshness in the rebuking efforts of Paul to this church

*/1.

/*This is one messed up church and the core of their problem, */conforming to this world as he warned the Roman church not to do/*

a.

Many of the problems this church was encountering was because they were incorporating worldly views into church doctrine

                                                                                                                                       i.

Inviting the world into the church

                                                                                                                                      ii.

You look at every church that is failing in teaching and preaching the gospel, it comes to this one issue

1.

The church must be the */light of the world/*, there must be a deep and distinct line between the world and the church

                                                              ii.

Some would say that is exclusive and goes against the heart of the inviting heart of Jesus Christ

1.       On the contrary- the church is open to anyone who comes

a.

In fact the world would */only be interested/* in a church that is truly transformed- that would be refreshing

*/                                                                                                                                       i.

/**/Who would want to come to a church where what is offered can be gained in the world?/*

1.

If it moralism, you can find that in a book, if you want spiritualism you can join a yoga class

2.       Why come to church, to be with people who try to drive through a dark world with only a cigarette lighter

3.       People would only be attracted to someone who can offer them a floodlight to navigate through this darken world

*/b.

/*Once you give your life to Christ, */He is now your Lord/*

c.        That’s what Friday was all about

*/                                                                                                                                       i.

/*If you know you are a lost sinner and recognize that Jesus died for your sins*/- confessing w~/ your mouth Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart God raised Him from the dead- you are saved/*

                                                                                                                                      ii.

w~/ that miracle comes a miracle transformation in one’s life

*/1.

/*do not believe for one moment that */God will change your nature but not touch your character/*

2.       that is the problem of this church, they let the flood gates wide open

a.        you could no longer tell the believer from the unbeliever

*/b.

/*what drives one’s attitudes, what drives one’s actions*/- it is doctrine/*

 

b.

*V.

12  First and obvious consequence of there being no resurrection* is that “not even Christ has been raised”

                                                               i.

If the dead cannot rise, neither can Christ

1.       Christians believe in the resurrection, otherwise we would not be believers

2.       The affirmation of this reality is a double edged sword argument

*/a.

/**/If Christ has raised, bodily resurrection is possible/*

b.

If men cannot be raised, than Christ cannot be raised

                                                              ii.

The disbelieving Corinthians got around this small issue

*/1.

/*Stating that Jesus was not a man, he was not fully man, Paul comes to the question in v.12, */How can this be?/*